Sale figures bolstered by non-EU sales. - New year party sales rescued the sales figures for champagne for 2013. The sales figures around the world fell slightly to 304 million bottles for 2013 as a whole. Sales in France, the biggest market for champagne, fell by 2.3% and sales in Europe as a whole fell by 3.4%, but champagne sales rose in the rest of the world by 3.2%. Overall global champagne sales fell by 1.5% in 2013, following on from a difficult 2012, when sales fell by 4.4% and the end-of-year party season saw very low sales. Prices remained high in Asia and elsewhere, where prestigious brands and vintages are popular, and prices there are far higher than in France and the rest of Europe, enabling the business turnover for champagne to remain at €4.3 billion, much the same as in 2012. (IL)